Census geographic units of Canada
term used in Canada
The census geographic units of Canada are the census subdivisions defined and used by Canada's federal government statistics bureau Statistics Canada to conduct the country's quinquennial census. These areas exist solely for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation; they have no government of their own. They exist on four levels: the top-level (first-level) divisions are Canada's provinces and territories; these are divided into second-level census divisions, which in turn are divided into third-level census subdivisions (often corresponding to municipalities) and fourth-level dissemination areas.
In some provinces, census divisions correspond to the province's second-level administrative divisions such as a county or another similar unit of political organization. In the prairie provinces, census divisions do not correspond to the province's administrative divisions, but rather group multiple administrative divisions together. In Newfoundland and Labrador, the boundaries are set by Statistics Canada as no such level of government exists. Two of Canada's three territories are also divided into census divisions.
Census divisions
According to Statistics Canada, Census divisions "are intermediate geographic areas between the province/territory level and the municipality (census subdivision)." In six provinces, they are legislated groupings of adjacent census subdivisions (municipalities or municipal equivalents) that share in regional planning and management of certain services such as emergency response. In four provinces and all three territories, legislation for equivalent intermediate geographic areas do not exist. Statistics Canada therefore collaborates with the four provinces and three territories in the creation of statistical equivalents.
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